Romulus Mayor Alan Lambert, who won't seek a fourth term, says he does not know why State Police raided his home in March. / ROB WIDDIS/Special to DFP

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Romulus civic boosters thought their city was turning a corner earlier this year:

The worst of the recession had passed, and new police leadership was clearing the stain left by a corruption scandal involving the former chief, his wife and five officers.

Then came March — and a raid of Mayor Alan Lambert’s house on Mario Ann Court as part of a Michigan State Police investigation.

“We were just coming out of a cloud with the police department, some of the charges that were made there,” said Romulus Mayor Pro Tem LeRoy Burcroff. “Trust is at an all-time low. We’ve got some work to do to regain that.”

The raid, troubling on its own, further magnified the string of high-profile controversies and scandals the city of nearly 24,000 is facing. In addition to its former police chief going on trial later this year, city officials are trying to keep a prominent businessman facing corruption allegations from reopening a pair of hazardous-waste deep-injecton wells in the community, and are still fighting to get a casino.

Lambert, who has refused repeated requests to step down, is not seeking a fourth term this year.

“At this point in time, I have not been charged with anything and, in fact, I am not even certain about the details of their investigation or what they are looking for, or what they say I did wrong,” said a copy of an address Lambert made to the Romulus City Council in April.

Steve Hood, political adviser and host of “Detroit Wants 2 Know” on WADL-TV (Channel 38), said Lambert’s status as an embattled mayor puts Romulus on a “path to destruction” because he is forced to focus on his own situation rather than the city.

“You’ve got to have a strong leader in a strong mayor form of government,” Hood said.

Police scandal

Lambert’s troubles have somewhat overshadowed the case against former Police Chief Michael St. Andre, his wife and five officers, who are headed to trial in September on charges of misusing drug forfeiture funds.

The officers were involved in investigations at two strip clubs — Subi’s Place in Southgate and the Landing Strip just blocks from the Romulus Police Department — and are accused, among other things, of misspending $40,000 of drug forfeiture funds in one year on, among other things, booze and oral sex. St. Andre also is accused of using forfeiture funds to buy a tanning salon for his wife.

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David Lee, an attorney representing one of the officers, last month questioned the strength of the case against his client and the others.

“The charges in this case have been greatly exaggerated,” Lee said at the time. “I believe when the law and the facts are decided, you’ll see a lot of these things didn’t occur.”

Michigan State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Shaw said the raid of the mayor’s house was not part of the case involving the officers, although he did not offer details.

Former Police Chief Robert Dickerson, the man who replaced St. Andre and is credited by city officials with improving the Romulus Police Department’s image after the corruption scandal, compared the case to the movie “Superbad,” a 2007 coming-of-age tale that features police officers acting like corrupt, out-of-control kids.

“No cop should be this stupid,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson resigned when the mayor refused to step down. He said Lambert told him the raid was tied to a loan he took out from a local businessman.

“I couldn’t work for a mayor who was allegedly working on the wrong side of the law when I’m leading the troops who are working on the right side of the law,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson’s tenure was widely praised by city officials, although a whistleblower lawsuit naming Dickerson and the city was filed in federal court in February. Sgt. Kevin Ladach claims the department tried to cover up an incident in August where an officer punched a prisoner who had spit at and used racial slurs against the officer. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office was contacted but announced in January that it was closing its file. Dickerson acknowledged the punch but disputed the claims of a coverup and said the officer was disciplined.

Other issues

Other issues also remain unresolved.

Nine years after voters approved plans for a casino, the fight to build one continues. The most recent hurdle came from the state Supreme Court, which ordered a proposal off the ballot last year that would have cleared the way for eight additional Michigan casinos. Casino supporters say they will make another attempt in the next election cycle.

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Another controversial issue has been the effort to reopen two hazardous-waste deep-injection wells west of Inkster Road that were closed in 2006 because of leaks and mismanagement.

State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, state Rep. Douglas Geiss and Wayne County Commissioner Raymond Basham, all Democrats from Taylor who represent Romulus or adjacent communities, called on U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade in March to investigate the current owner of the wells, prominent Greektown businessman Dimitrios (Jim) Papas, for his role in an alleged bribery scheme involving former trustees of the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System.

Papas’ attorney, Christopher Andreoff of Southfield, noted Papas has not been charged.

“Those are allegations and have not been proven,” Andreoff said.

“Amidst further evidence of wrongful and unethical behavior by Jim Papas, it is more important now than ever that he be disallowed to begin operating the hazardous waste injection wells,” Hopgood said on his Web site. Hopgood and Geiss have introduced a pair of bills that would, among other things, allow the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to deny a hazardous waste facility license to someone convicted of a crime in their efforts to obtain the license.

A call seeking comment from Papas, who has previously called the wells safe and sound, was routed to Tom Athans, vice president of Papas’ well company Environmental Geo-Technologies. Athans declined to discuss the allegations against Papas or community opposition. He noted that the company is waiting on the final OK from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Burcroff and others say the negative stories about Romulus obscure the good things about the community.

Burcroff noted Romulus has more undeveloped land than many areas in metro Detroit, and its proximty to major interstates and rail lines, plus being the home of Detroit Metro Airport, offers a tremendous opportunity for developers. And Romulus’ nickname, “Gateway to the World,” offers a promise for the future.

But others such as Mark Wilhide, 52, a lifelong Romulus resident and chairman of the city’s police fire and safety commission, said the scandals take a toll, despite all the good people working in city government and public safety.

“This is a great little town. It’s just unfortunate that the press that we get is bad, and we don’t need that right now,” Wilhide said. “It makes this town sound like it’s a cesspool of political corruption, but it’s really not.”